Children's Defense Fund Update
April 10, 1998
In This Issue:
-- Child Care
-- Children's Health
-- Family Income
-- Message from CDF Update
*** Child Care ***
--- APRIL IS THE MONTH OF THE YOUNG CHILD! ---
Please make sure your Members of Congress hear from you during the
month of April.
Over the next week, Members are in their home districts for the Spring
Congressional recess. Please call the local offices of your U.S.
Senators and your U.S. Representative and tell them that you want them
to care about quality child care. Your Members of Congress should
hear from parents, providers, grandparents, friends, and more.
It is very important that Members hear first-hand from their
constituents that child care is an important issue in their community.
If you have the opportunity, please visit with your Members of
Congress in person or invite them to visit a local child care program.
Also, just a reminder that a free Child Care Now! Organizer's Kit and
other campaign materials are available from CDF. To order, please
send an email to: .
*** Children's Health ***
-- CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM (CHIP) SIX MONTH PROGRESS
REPORT --
April 1, 1998 marked the six-month anniversary of the start of the
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) which provides $4 billion a
year in grants to states to cover uninsured children , either through
Medicaid expansions, separate state programs, or a combination of
these approaches.
As of this writing, there are 9 states whose plans have been approved
by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), the federal agency
in charge of the implementing the new legislation. The states are:
Alabama, Colorado, South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, California, New
York, Michigan, and Illinois. For several states, this is the first
phase of their expansion, so it is likely they will cover even more
children in the future.
Another 16 states have submitted their CHIP plans for approval. These
states are: Missouri, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee, Rhode Island,
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Idaho, Oregon,
Nevada, Utah, Wisconsin, Vermont, and Puerto Rico.
Twelve of the states plan to expand children's health insurance
coverage through Medicaid, 7 through a separate state program, and 6
states plan to expand through a combination of a Medicaid and separate
program.
For updated information regarding the Children's Health Insurance
Program, see the CDF web site at: , or
contact Jeannette O'Connor at: 202/662-3653.
*** Family Income ***
--- INCREASE IN MINIMUM WAGE TO BRING FAMILIES OUT OF POVERTY ---
After Congress returns from the current recess, Senator Edward M.
Kennedy (D-MA) will be looking for opportunities to bring up an
increase in the minimum wage. He and Democratic Whip David Bonior
(D-MI) have co-sponsored legislation (S. 1805/H.R. 3510) calling for
raising the minimum wage to $5.65 an hour in 1999 and $6.15 an hour in
2000.
* YOU CAN HELP: Let your U.S. Senators and House of Representative
Member know that a minimum wage increase would help families with
children struggling to rise out of poverty (U.S. Capitol Switchboard #
is 202/224-3121).
Facts:
The Minimum Wage and Family Poverty:
The proposed increase in the minimum wage is modest, but does
represent progress. While 50 cents a year in 1999 and again in 2000
would still leave a mother with two children below the federal poverty
level (assuming a 2 percent increase in inflation for each year
between now and 2000), combining the raised minimum wage with the
Earned Income Tax Credit and/or other components like child support
can really help families make ends meet. Today's full-time year-round
minimum wage of $5.15 leaves a family of three at 82 percent of the
projected 1998 poverty line. Increasing the minimum wage to $6.15 in
the year 2000 would bring families of three to 90 percent of the
projected poverty line. If we fail to increase the minimum wage during
that period, its value will drop to only 75 percent of the federal
poverty level.
In the 1960s and 1970s, full-time, year-round work at the minimum wage
lifted a three-person family out of poverty. Few increases in the
minimum wage over time have allowed it to sink far below the value it
had in earlier decades. This bill simply takes some needed catch-up
steps.
Why the Minimum Wage is Important to Children:
Most poor children live in families where someone works. Census data
show that 69 percent of poor children lived in working families in
1996, a startling increase from 61 percent just three years earlier.
For the vast majority of poor children, work alone is not enough to
lift their families out of poverty. Steady increases in the minimum
wage are a very important part of a multifaceted strategy to reduce
child poverty. Other steps are necessary as well, including
subsidized child care and health coverage, other services to tear down
barriers to employment, and strengthened child support enforcement.
But an increased minimum wage is an essential component of a
partnership between the public and private sectors to develop a
work-based anti-poverty system.
Will a Rise in the Minimum Wage Cost Jobs?:
The previous increase did not result in job loss. The Economic Policy
Institute (EPI) studied the first installment of the recent increases
(to $4.75 an hour) and found that the increase had no significant
effect on the employment of the two most vulnerable groups--teens and
young adults. (See the EPI study, The Sky Hasn't Fallen by Jared
Bernstein and John Schmitt, ). Further, a report
released in January 1997 by economists David Card and Alan Krueger
showed that after a minimum wage increase in Pennsylvania, employment
in the fast-food industry in the state rose. If a further increase
will have any effect on jobs, it is likely to be minimal, and
outweighed by the benefits to low-income workers.
Who is Helped by an Increase in the Minimum Wage?:
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the increase to $5.15 that
took effect in September 1997 benefited close to 10 million workers,
58 percent of whom are female and 71 percent of whom are adults. 57
percent of the gains from the increase go to working families in the
bottom 40 percent of the income scale.
The Public Supports Raising the Minimum Wage:
Several recent polls show massive support for increasing the minimum
wage. A Los Angeles Times poll from February 1998 month shows 78
percent favoring an increase. A January 21st Washington Post-ABC poll
pegged support at 76 percent.
--- DAY OF ACTION TO SUPPORT INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE ---
Advocates around the country are gearing up for a Day of Action to
support increasing the minimum wage on Thursday, April 16. Sponsored
by the national organization ACORN, there are activities planned in
Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia,
Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, Texas, Washington state, and Wisconsin. For contact
names in these states, please call T'Wana Lucas at the CDF Family
Income division, 202/ 662-3542, or e-mail her at:
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Kimberly Taylor
Children's Defense Fund
25 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
202/662-3540 (fax)
CDFupdate@childrensdefense.org
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"What is done to children, they will do to society." --Karl Menninger